Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra reviewed: very niche

A tablet that stands out, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is bigger than almost any other tablet around. But is all that size a good thing?

Much like phones and computers, there are a lot of sizes for devices in the world, and no one size that fits every purpose.

While 6 to 6.7 inch phones are roughly the norm these days, and 13 inch laptops are a good reliable portable size for most, normal tablet sizes for most folks sit around 9 to 11 inches. That’s the norm.

Go outside the norm, and you can find bigger and smaller tablets designed for folks who prefer those sizes.

Take the iPad Mini, which delivers plenty of power in a compact 8.3 inch size, with plenty of Android tablets still offering similar 7 and 8 inch alternatives. On the other side, there’s the massive 12.9 inch iPad Pro, which provides nearly 13 inches of space for content creators, though it may as well be 13 inches just given how close it is.

But what if you need more? What if you yearn for an even bigger screen to take with you?

If bigger is always better in your mind, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra’s nearly 15 inch tablet could be worth checking out, niche as it is.

Design

A simple slate with minimalist design, the Tab S9 Ultra continues the look we’ve seen in previous Tab models, offering a massive screen, slim bezels, and hardware under the hood not unlike a high-end phone.

It’s a simple but elegant design that stands out, thanks in part to an impressively thin 5.5mm thickness, or should we say thinness.

Weighing 737 grams, it’s the heaviest of Samsung’s Tab S9 line-up, and it even comes with a degree of water resistance, something Samsung has added to the range this year, offering IP68 water resistance for both the tablet and the pen.

Features

Inside, you’ll find a similar template of hardware to Samsung’s Galaxy flagship phones for the year, covering the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, either 12 or 16GB RAM depending on how much you spend, and Android 13 out of the box.

Connections for the tablet are also like a Samsung phone, with USB Type C the only physical connection, while the rest are wireless, covering 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5, GPS, and 5G if you opt for the more expensive model.

Unlike the Galaxy phones, you will find an expansion slot in this tablet, with a microSD slot found here.

You’ll also find cameras on this tablet should you want to use them, with the back housing both a 13 megapixel wide and 8 megapixel ultra-wide, while the front features two 12 megapixel cameras, one for wide and one for ultra-wide.

Display

What’s on the inside is important, but the main thing you’ll clearly see is also equally important, because it may as well be the whole thing: the screen.

Sized at a staggering 14.6 inches, the Tab S9 Ultra display is huge, bigger than most 13 and 14 inch laptops. It is large, for sure, and Samsung is giving you high-quality tech for it, using a 14.6 inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with the resolution of 2960×1848.

Samsung has taken up much of the front with that screen, and cut out a little shelf for the two front-facing cameras, so you get a view of pretty much everything and the cameras don’t really impact that massive layout.

It may be big, but it’s also a lovely bright and clear screen, delivery a lovely res with great clarity. It may as well be the best feature on the tablet itself, and of course, it supports Samsung’s digital pen, the S-Pen.

In-use

You’ll find the S-Pen in the box, and in a rather handy way, it can be snapped magnetically to one of two positions: the top edge (or the side in portrait), or the back. The latter of these feels stronger, but it’s nice that you have two positions.

Using the S-Pen is more or less like using any stylus, but because this Android tablet is just that — an Android tablet — using the Tab S9 Ultra is relatively easy whether you opt for the pen or not, provided you can hold the tablet comfortably.

Android is polished enough, even on a tablet, so you’ll be able to load apps, unlock the tablet using face or an in-built fingerprint sensor, and just get to using what is an oversized tablet. Not every app is made for Android in a tablet, but you should get by with what you need.

The size is probably the most critical issue of the Tab S9 Ultra, and it’s one that some will love and some will be less enthused.

On the one hand, it is a perfect size and shape for the viewing of social content, delivering a massive screen for TikTok and tall portrait videos. It’s also ideal for watching big-screen content, with the widescreen image ideal for films and such, giving you a display that just pops.

But for the regular day to day, the near 15 inch size just seems like too much in this form-factor. It can be awkward to hold and carry, and feels a little like what would happen if you snapped off the screen of a large laptop and just decided to bring it with you for fun.

The laptop analogy is fair, too, especially given the performance inside isn’t out of kilter from what you might find on a modern laptop.

Performance

Granted, it’s essentially the same gear as what’s in quite a few Samsung phones this year, including the Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and the Galaxy Z Fold 5, except it’s in a tablet that is just… massive.

The combination of 12GB RAM and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 makes it a solid system for most of what you might need it for. Much like how a flagship phone from this year would handle your apps and games for a few years, so too would this tablet.

Battery

Behind all this hardware is a massive battery, roughly twice the size of the biggest battery in any phone.

You’ll find a staggering 11,200mAh in this tablet, which is easily plenty for a day of use, though it’s even pretty reliable for roughly a week of intermittent use.

If you only use the Tab S9 Ultra for a couple of hours per day, you should find a few days of life from this tablet. It’s just that meaty a thing.

Value

But the price can be difficult to justify, partly because it’s difficult to class the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra like any other tablet. Rather, it’s a little in a league of its own, trying hard to be a laptop replacement when it’s also a massive tablet.

As a laptop replacement, the $1999 starting price in Australia for the Tab S9 Ultra isn’t terrible, thanks in part to what’s inside and how it runs. You’ll need to pony up a minimum of that for the 256GB WiFi option, and $2249 for the 256GB WiFi/5G variant, but if you want more storage, both 512GB and 1TB options will increase the costs, as well.

At almost every point, the Tab S9 Ultra will cost a minimum of $2K, making it an expensive tablet option.

However, it also doesn’t come with a keyboard, so you’re buying what is basically a touchscreen computer alone, much like the iPad Pro. Samsung’s accessory, the Tab S9 Ultra Book Cover keyboard will run you an extra $549 in Australia, which means you can easily spend $2500 to $3000 just trying to make the Tab S9 Ultra into a laptop.

Let’s just say this clearly: you might be able to make this tablet like a laptop, or even a laptop replacement, but the cost can be prohibitive.

Worth noting is that it’s not extremely overpriced, especially in comparison to its obvious competition in the iPad Pro. Compared to Apple’s gear, Samsung’s tablets are actually priced well. The M2 iPad Pro is also quite pricey, as is the $579 Magic Keyboard accessory Apple makes for it.

But the Tab S9 Ultra still feels expensive, especially for what can feel like an oversized S23. By comparison, M2 iPad Pro doesn’t feel like an oversized iPhone, which matters.

What needs work?

So the price is clearly an issue, as is the massive size. The 14.6 inch size really limits its uses unless you know you need it.

An impractical size is only part of the problem, though.

Just as it was last year, the case of optional extras is becoming a serious sticking point for Samsung, which in the Tab S9 Ultra feels like a way to just make you spend money on the necessities.

You already know there’s no keyboard case or regular case in the box, so you’ll have to pony up for those to protect the enormous display or make it slightly more usable. We’re typically fine with that, because that’s pretty much normal in tablet releases. Only a handful of companies give away tablet cases in the box, and typically not on high-end models. Fine, whatever.

We’re less enthused about the lack of a power pack in the box, as Samsung borrows from its phone boxes and just says “no” to the charge pack. For a tablet. That typically requires more than 5W of power.

Apple may have started the whole earphone and power pack reduction in its phones a few years ago, but it still includes a power pack in with the iPad Pro, which the Tab S9 Ultra is essentially targeted at and yet excludes. This is just staggering to us, especially when you’re spending around $2K on a tablet.

Not helping this is the fact that if you do have a spare charge pack, you’ll need one of a reasonable size to actually recharge the Tab S9 Ultra.

The 30W normally used on an M1 MacBook Air didn’t cut it, even if it has no problems slowly recharging a MacBook Pro 14. It was only when we plugged the Tab S9 Ultra into something meatier, like a Belkin 68W GaN or the Satechi 200W we reviewed recently that the Tab S9 Ultra returned from low battery life.

Honestly, if it wasn’t frustrating enough that the charge pack was deemed an optional extra on a $2K tablet, the fact that you need to buy a big charge pack to charge the tablet you’ve already bought just beggars belief.

Those issues just make the value argument that much more difficult to justify.

It’s a big tablet with a lot of power, but it’s so weird that even the basics seem missing in action. This isn’t a phone, and you need a sizeable USB pack to charge this tablet up. It should be in the box, Samsung.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

While size and price are critical issues for the Tab S9 Ultra, if you really need the massive display, they probably won’t matter.

Outside of these not small niggles, Samsung’s equally not small tablet is impressive, but can feel very, very niche. We’re clearly not the target market, and we’re not sure we know many people who will be.

If you need a big Android tablet with solid tech, particularly with some fast 5G data access, Samsung has something here.

A little awkward and unwieldy, the Tab S9 Ultra won’t be for everyone, delivering a design that’s too big for words, even if we did write a good two thousand of them here.

Essentially, if you’re into the size offered in the Tab S9 Ultra, you’re in a definite niche that not everyone can connect with.

That’s totally fine, of course, and it’s nice to see a big sized tablet for everyone, but we’d also suggest weighing your options carefully, especially as the 12.4 inch Tab S9+ sees much the same tech in a much smaller size. Your hands will thank you, as will your wallet.